Always Be Prepared

Being prepared is instrumental to my success. It is a major tenet of my overall well-being, and a consistent thread in conversations I have had for, well… as long as I can remember.

Surely, the origin was during my days as a Cub Scout when we were often encouraged by our motto to “do your best” and “be prepared.” My need for preparedness was only perpetuated a few years later when I became a Civil Air Patrol cadet. By no means do I consider myself a “prepper” — I stop well short of that moniker — but when the Everyday Carry movement began to take off, I got it…and surely consider myself to be a loyal member.

What I carry, and what others carry, is a consistent curiosity of mine and has always served as a good place to start a conversation with a new friend or colleague.

The set of creature comforts a person carries tells me a lot about them and what they think is important when they are away from home…or, at a minimum, it gives me a start.

The deeper meaning is that I highly value being ready the moment someone needs my assistance. Having the perfect tool or solution to complete an assignment or objective is something that gives me purpose, and my collection of Everyday Carry items feeds into this objective.

When I consider the family story that has been circulating for years about me generally ignoring television programming as a child, but being enthralled with the commercials, perhaps this all makes a little more sense. It is likely why I gravitated to the type of consulting I do with people and organizations as well.

Even when I was a kid I was compelled to share the benefits of the things I carried, and make a strong case for the toys in my collection. Looking back, I think even then I found this as an easy place to share a friendly story, or lend a helping hand.

As an adult, I still have the curiosity for handy things, but my tastes have obviously changed to fit my lifestyle. My work frequently pulls me away from my home base, so my #EDC items are particularly focused on a mobile lifestyle. In the future, I also intend to share a bit more about what I carry on a hunt, what I carry when I am out piloting my Phantom, or my necessities when I am at a live music festival.

The things I carry are a window into my interests, my priorities, and my values. You’ll find out a lot about me along the way, or at least about the things I carry, as you read through my Everyday Carry recommendations. So as a way to capture the excitement of sharing the benefits of the things I carry, I encourage you to review my recommended #EDC items, and see if any of them might be useful in your Everyday as well.